§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will take steps to ensure that the English fishing fleet receives financial assistance equivalent to that provided by the Scottish Executive for the Scottish fishing industry. [157241]
§ Mr. MorleyThe decision to provide additional assistance worth £11.5 million for the restructuring of the fishing industry and rejuvenation of ports in England was made after careful consideration of the difficulties the industry has been facing.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the recent OECD report on transitional financial assistance to the fishing industry. [157237]
§ Mr. MorleyThe report by OECD on the economic and policy implications of transition to responsible fisheries is a welcome examination of the challenges involved in adopting more sustainable fishing methods across the developed world. One finding is that direct financial assistance to fishing industries can be detrimental to long-term sustainability unless it is carefully targeted at restructuring and complementary to management controls. This is consistent with the UK Government's view and the £22.5 million package of aid for the English industry which I announced on 2 April is designed with long-term environmental and economic sustainability in mind.
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make available transitional aid to allow the fishing industry the means to introduce conservation measures and meet short-term losses arising from their introduction. [157240]
§ Mr. MorleyGrant is available under the EU fisheries scheme FIFG for the adoption of conservation measures, for example, selective fishing gear and diversification away from pressure stocks. This is a priority area of the funding I announced on 2 April. It is, however, not appropriate to compensate fishermen for conserving stocks from which they will attain long-term benefit.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much of the package of aid to the English fishing industry contained in the press release on this Department's website (Ref: 1219/01) is funding which has already been announced. [157881]
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§ Mr. MorleyAs explained in the press release, £11 million had already been committed to the FIFG grants scheme and I was launching the scheme in England. The £6 million funding for restructuring the industry and the £5.5 million DETR funding for rejuvenation of fishing ports were new announcements.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the criteria used for awarding the package of aid to the English fishing industry for decommissioning. [157880]
§ Mr. MorleyI will shortly be discussing with representatives of the industry how these restructuring funds should be used.